


Neurosis

by AvariceNSpice



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Blood Drinking, F/M, Gen, God of War!Jasper, Human/Vampire Relationship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Interracial Relationship, Liberal Interpretation of What a Vampire's True Mate is, Multiple Personalities, PoC, Rating will change, Romance, Skeptical Mates, Strong Female Characters, True Mates, Vampire Sex, Vampires, eventually, he is definitely in this, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-06-10 03:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6937858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvariceNSpice/pseuds/AvariceNSpice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wren's got a lot going on. She's trying to finish high school,figure out what to do with her life, avoid thinking about her parents, and keep out of her overworked Aunt's hair all at once. Between that and her penchant for too loud music and impromptu cooking sessions at midnight, she really doesn't have time for the misplaced cowboy who seems to be everywhere she wishes he wasn't.</p><p>or</p><p>The one where Jasper gets rewarded and punished all at once for everything that he's done in the form of an awkward girl who somehow manages to make him smile despite it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Begin Again

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I’m not sure if I’m even going to be ready to continue this at the moment, but I figured I may as well post it? I’m really into another fanfic of mine rn but I dunno, I always have loved Jasper… And I’ve got a few ideas for this one.

When Wren was younger, her Aunt would never let her have the remote when they sat down to watch TV together. Not because she had bad taste in shows, and not because the older woman simply didn’t want her young niece messing up the TV.

No, Angelica ‘Angel’ Kitt had always refused to leave the remote in her niece’s possession for the simple reason that if she did, they’d be stuck watching whatever show was on in slow motion.

Because the thing was that Wren, with every ounce of her little six year old being, had believed that for a moment to truly be experienced, it had to go slow. It had to be slow so that you could memorize every detail, fully live every second, and be able grab hold of it with no regrets. Even then her tiny mind had been vast within itself far beyond anyone’s comprehension, including her own, and she’d fixated on this tiny detail.

So, with this quirk firmly in place, Wren had gone through her early years devoid of remote privileges all the way up until she was about 11, when she’d finally gotten a handle on some of her odder behaviors. While she’d never really stopped believing that truly pivotal moments happened slowly, even if they were only a few seconds, she’d let the notion fade into the back of her mind, hidden amidst the wreck that served as her train of thought. 

It stayed there for the next five years.

In that time, Wren’s life fell apart and came together as it had been doing for the years before, and like always, she took it in a stride.

Her Mama and Papa ditching her with her Aunty Angel to go waste their life away amidst drugs and other unsightly things? All right. Staying with her Aunty was better than the danger of living with a couple of meth addicts as far as she was concerned.

Figuring out that her anxiety around people did _not_ get better with age? Perfectly okay considering she was a homebody anyways. A few close friends suited her fine, and everyone else could keep their drama to themselves.

Being forced to skip a grade so that her school could make themselves look better by having a ‘gifted’ student? Whatever, it wasn’t like what they were giving her would trip her up anyways. (And maybe the idea of slightly more challenging material appealed to her never still mind. If she didn’t have something to keep herself occupied, her thoughts would spiral out of control and she’d fall back into the dark places she’d been trying hard for years to keep away from.)

Having to move from her hometown in California to some dreary town in Washington because of her Auntie’s job transfer? Fine by her. It wasn’t like Sacramento had many happy memories for her anyways.

In the end, that’s what she ended up telling her Aunty when the worried woman asked for the _fifth_ time as she drove her to her first day of state mandated hell at Fork’s Highschool.

“I know baby, I know… And I’m sorry about that. Maybe it’ll be better here? I mean I know you like this weather better at least,” Angel responded.

Her Aunty really did try hard to make up for the things her brother and sister in law had put Wren through, and while she appreciated it, Wren could only wish that the woman would just… Stop. The past was the past, and even if it did sneak up on her sometimes, if she needed help dealing with it, she’d ask.

And her Aunty, amazing woman that she was, didn’t need the extra stress of having to deal with Wren’s demons as well as her own. With that in mind, Wren gave her Aunt a small smile as they pulled up to the school. When the car pulled to a stop, they both sat in silence as her Aunty stared straight ahead, and she eyed the energetic students darting around.

She knew that wouldn’t last long, though. She’d been lucky enough to be able to come at the start of the semester, and as soon as the joy of summer break wore off, everyone would be stuck in that ever present teenage resentment for the schooling system that every one she’d ever met seemed to harbor to some extent.

“Baby girl?” her Aunt questioned softly, breaking their quiet.

After swallowing down the ball of anxiety that had begun to bubble up, Wren steeled herself and straightened her clothes.

“It’ll be fine Aunty, don’t worry. I’ll see you at home, okay?”

She gained that extra bit of strength that she’d need to get through her first day at  new school from the sudden ease of tension on her Auntie’s face.

“Alright, I love you, baby girl. I’ll be home around six, but text me when you get home?”

It was a twenty minute walk from the school to their new house, but even so Wren would be home about two hours before her Aunt was, so she nodded. Then, with one more steady breath she was out of the car, her Aunt was driving away, and her glasses were fogging due to the contrast of the cool air and her own warm breath.

“Fuck,” she murmured.

Forks was a relatively small town, which meant that their high school didn’t exactly have the largest student body. That, in turn, meant that she was getting a few curious looks because _obviously_ no one remembered her face from middle school or elementary or however many years they’d all been stuck together. Her only saving grace was that she hadn’t come in the middle of the year. That just would have been a disaster, and she’d have had to turn her ass right back around and walk home before school even started. As it was, she was seriously considering it.

But then again, she knew her Aunty would be pissed, so she shoved her hands into her hoody pocket and soldiered on. She had her schedule, her bag, and snacks to get her through until lunch and then after. She’d be fine.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

And so she was.

Because of her year skip, she’d be graduating that year, which made her a senor at 16. Of course she’d be 17 in a few months, but that was still a ways away. Even though her skip had only been a year, however, her teachers seemed to look at her with very high expectations.

Math had been first, and while it had been one of her better classes because of the ease with which her mind worked with numbers, she could already tell that her teacher, Mr.Leon, would attempt to challenge her to the best of his abilities. While she did appreciate it in a way, she was wary of having his attention on her.

All in all, that class hadn’t been too bad. She’d even managed to make friends with a tall, willowy girl who’d seen the small Naruto keychain she’d had on her bag for years. Obviously feeling that odd ‘nerd vibe’ that all anime junkies seemed to give off, Maria Rodriguez had latched onto her within moments. Even thought Wren wasn’t one to normally make friends so easily, she felt okay with the girl’s attentions. She didn’t come off as someone who was gross in their perusal of all things ‘anime’ and ‘kawaii’; rather she was much like Wren in that respect. She enjoyed animation in general as a simple pastime, and it helped that they both had an interest in mathematics.

After checking their schedules together and realizing they had all but two classes in common, Wren was content to trail after her for the rest of the day, even if she did feel a little awkward.

That was how, after an English class she knew right off the bat that she was going to hate, she found herself situated at the end of a lunch table next to Maria as the girl chattered away with her friends.

Wren had intended to go find the school’s library, or even find a quiet corner somewhere to sit, but in the spirit of trying, she’d let Maria drag her into what she liked to refer to as the second layer of hell. If high school was one whole hell, then the lunchroom was its inner layer.

People were everywhere, the smells of way too many different foods permeated the air, and she could already hear people gossiping in the background.

Actually, now that she was paying attention, the gossip was in the foreground. Maria’s friends were literally all looking at her and making speculations because at some point she’d apparently zoned out.

“Do you think she’s mute?” one skinny kid asked, looking just a little too red eyed to not be regularly inhaling some type of smoke.

“No,no, no,” Maria chimed in,” she’s just shy!”

Wren knew her face had gained a light red tinge as she fought not to clench her jaw down on the sucker she’d started a few minutes before lunch without thinking about it. She wasn’t usually one for hard candies, but she’d forgotten when lunch started and had been too lazy to check when she’d gotten a sweet tooth. The sucker had been the first thing she found in her bag, so artificial cherry was what she settled for.

“Is shy your way of saying she’s slow?” a girl with meticulously straightened brown hair questioned.

 _That_ one actually stung a little all things considered. Wren knew she could get a little spacey, and she didn’t actually move really fast, but _damn_.

“Amy!” Maria gasped, and Wren felt marginally better that she was at least being defended.

Amy just waved her hand though, and looked away.

“I was just joking.”

Wren sucked harder on her candy, deciding to just sit this one out. Maria had exhausted all of her socialization energy for the day, and even just sitting there was making her uncomfortable. Every time someone new sat down, Mariah would introduce her and they’d all move on, which was nice but nerve wracking all at once. One set of eyes on her was too many.

“Sure you were Aims. Just like you were joking about wanting to take a bite out of Hale’s butt last year?” Mariah shot back, seemingly enjoying playing with her friend.

That did have Wren snorting a little in amusement, though. She hadn’t had anyone in her class with the name Hale yet, so she had no idea who they were talking about. Still, she assumed that if the person was attractive enough to warrant some girl’s lascivious attentions, then they were someone she’d want to stay clear of. Her and people didn’t do well together… But her and attractive people? It was a no go. Most attractive people knew they looked good, and even if looks didn’t generally phase her, their attitudes _did._

With that thought in mind, she took her sucker out of her mouth and tapped Maria’s arm lightly. When the girl turned, Wren leaned up so that she wouldn’t have to shout above the crowed.

“Who’s Hale?”

If she knew what to look for, she knew what to _avoid._

Wren was quickly learning that Maria was one for gossip, and if that held true then Hale was some serious gossip by the look on Maria’s face alone. She was _beaming_.

“Well to begin with, there are actually two Hales; they’re twins. The one I was talking about was Jasper, the guy, and his twin is a girl named Rosalie. Don’t get me wrong though, they’re both gorgeous.”

 _‘Well,’_ she thought, _’ now I have two people to stay away from, then.’_

This time it was a girl with hair almost as wild as her own shoulder length locks that spoke.

“Their whole family is gorgeous!”

“She’s not exaggerating,” Maria laughed,” there are actually five of them here. They’re all adopted, and they’ve kind of got this dating thing going on. It’s sort of like their dad, who’s a doctor by the way, matched them all up. There’s Rosalie and Jasper Hale, who are the twins. Rosalie is dating Emmet Cullen, and Jasper and Alice used to date. Now that they’re over though, that leaves Edward, who’s the youngest, and Jasper free…”

The dreamy tone Maria trailed off with as she mentioned the single siblings was a little off putting, but Wren just added it to the list of things she was planning to ignore right along with ‘Jasper, Rosalie, Emmet, Alice, and Edward’. That entire family sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, and she did not want to go anywhere near that. Who adopts a bunch of beautiful teens and puts them in a house together? Who would let them date? Are there reality show cameras somewhere? She really didn’t want to find out.

In that moment, she really was quite happy to stick to her plan of not getting involved in any crap. She had one more year, and then she’d be off to college, out of her Aunty’s hair, and working to repay everything the woman had done for her thus far. She had a plan.

It only took a few moments for that plan to get blown to pieces.

It only took a few moments that seemed to last forever, because that little piece of her that said important things must be savored slowly came to life with a burning passion before it died in favor of something that was much too fast.

“Bro… I think you guys should be a little quieter, the Cullens are only a few tables behind us,” the stoner guy from before put in.

Wren’s stomach momentarily dropped before she realized that even if they were close, the Cullens wouldn’t have been able to hear their conversation over the loudness of the cafeteria. That was the only reason she even bothered to turn around with Maria and Amy to confirm Stoner Dude’s suspicions.

That was the reason why, as curiosity burned dimly and she pushed her now sticky sucker against her lips, she was able to immediately pick out the table of teens that looked like they’d been ripped out of the nearest magazine in their perfection.

That was why as the taste of sugar once again hit her taste buds, she caught the honeyed gaze of the most beautiful male she’d ever seen.

That was why she froze like a deer caught in the headlights because she couldn’t _believe_ she had the most unfortunate luck ever to have turned at the exact wrong time.

“Oh my god, Jasper’s looking this way!”

That was why time slowed, everything around her seemed to fade, and what couldn’t be more then fifteen seconds stretched into an eternity, and she knew she was in for the longest year of her life.

She knew, as her sucker fell from her limp fingers and hit the ground, her cheeks positively blazed, and she came back to her senses in a humiliating rush, that she’d just fallen victim to human biology in a rush of hormones and lack of social interaction.

Because in that moment, in that forever stretch of a sliver of time, she’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted Jasper Hale.

It was in the way her heart stopped, her hands trembled, and warmth she only ever let herself feel when she was alone slid through her body and settled between her thighs. It was in the way she knew she was going to do everything she could to avoid him as thoroughly as possible and crush the far too confusing feelings rushing through her body.

It was in the way she knew looking into his eyes for a few seconds was going to stay with her forever, but she had no idea why.

It was in the way she watched a boy who had to be one of his brother’s abruptly shoot up, grab his arm, and drag him straight out of the cafeteria.

It was in the way his face morphed into an expression she couldn’t describe beyond the fact that it scared the living fuck out of her.

Then, as he cleared the door and the young man with pale skin and golden hair was out of her sight, the intense emotion she’d been feeling faded, and she was simply left with a bone deep confusion and the certainty that she really, really didn’t want to go back to school the next day.


	2. Partners

The next morning she woke to white walls, the feel of new sheets against her sleep warmed skin, and the blaring of her own alarm clock. Groaning, she rolled over and rubbed the sleep from her tired eyes, simply letting the radio alarm play for the moment.

 

She was still disoriented enough to not completely tell what was even playing, but she was up none the less. Carefully she reached over to her night stand for her glasses and slid them on, making sure to lie still as her vision adjusted. Generally when she had deep sleeps like the one she'd experience the previous night, getting up the next morning was always a strenuous task.

 

She could hear her Aunt shuffling through the hallway getting ready for work, though, and she knew that she had to get up as well.

 

Even if she really, really didn't want to.

 

It turned out that the blonde conundrum that was Jasper Hale had continued to get more and more odd as the day went by, as he hadn't shown up to any of his classes after lunch. She knew because she's heard both of her teachers call his name during role, and no one had replied. Somehow, the fact that he wasn't there had relieved her in ways that didn't make sense because she hadn't even said a single word to him.

 

But he _had_ caught her staring, and that was awkward enough. If that was the reason he'd flipped at lunch, then she was pretty sure he would call her out on it, and she did not want that to happen. All she wanted was to lie low and get through the year, not spark some strife between herself and the 'cool kids'.

 

If anything though, she figured a boy as pretty as he was had been subject to countless stared. Logic said that there had likely been some other reason for his behavior; perhaps a bad text or something one of his siblings had said. Whatever it was, she wanted to stay clear of it, so she would.

 

With that thought in mind, she finally swung her legs out of her queen sized bed and allowed her toes to dig into the newly cleaned carpet on her floor. Her Aunt didn't have a ton of extra money, but they weren't exactly hurting and so when she could, Angel provided Wren with a few of what she considered luxuries. Her bed and her iPod where two such things, and she loved them both immensely. In fact, she was loath to leave the soft mattress and warm sheets, but she located herself by switching off her alarm and docking her iPod to put on some of her preferred music.

 

While she wasn't really picky with her music taste, she still had songs she was in the mood for at certain times and at the moment, some Panic! At The Disco was on her mind. The band was fairly popular, and she enjoyed their unique sound even if her aunt did tease her for being so 'emo' sometimes.

 

After stretching just enough to loosen any stiff muscles, Wren finally got up and let her music play as she dressed.

 

_Please, leave all overcoats, canes and top hats with the doorman._

_From that moment you'll be out of place and underdressed._

_I'm wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it._

_Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and..._

Wren loved a beat, no matter how it was formed, and quickly found her fingers drumming against her thigh to the rhythm as she sorted through her closet. She and her Aunt had managed to unpack in record time, and so all of her clothes were neatly tucked away in her drawers and closet. All of her shorts and tank tops where confined to one drawer, though, as Forks wasn't exactly known for its heat.

 

Her Aunt's comment on her liking the weather was accurate, though, as she had always preferred the cold and the clouds. Some may have called it dreary, but she found it calming.

 

After peaking outside, and seeing that it was indeed overcast, she opted for one of her many t-shirts with a long sleeved thermal to go under it. The thermal was snug enough to show the rounded curve of her stomach, but since it would be under a t-shirt and over her jeans, she didn't pay too much attention to that.

 

The t-shirt she'd chosen was a bright yellow, but she'd picked it more for the moose printed on the front. The moose was made up of the forest itself, the stark black lines creating the shape rather than the features. It was a gorgeous print, and she'd immediately loved it when her aunt had given it to her for her 16th birthday. Now she wore it as a nod to the forestry surrounding her new home area. It was more to amuse herself, then anything.

 

Finally, after grabbing a sports bra and some boy shorts, she plucked her Dr. Martin boots from the bottom of her closet. They where another of her prized positions, and the regular black pair had seen her through a couple of years already. Her feet had pretty much stopped growing at 14 when her Aunt had presented her with the expensive shoes, and Wren had loved them ever since. Sure, they were a little scuffed, but to her that just showed how well loved they were.

 

_When you're in black slacks with accentuating, off-white, pinstripes_

_Whoa, everything goes according to plan._

As she slipped on her clothes, she absent mindedly mouthed the lyrics along with the song playing.

 

_I'm the new cancer, never looked better, you can't stand it._

_Because you say so under your breath._

_You're reading lips "When did he get all confident?"_

 

 

After slipping on her socks, she decided against putting on her shoes quite yet and instead walked over to her vanity to figure out what she wanted to do with her hair. The thick curls where only about down to her shoulder blades, and had already begun to frizz out of the braid she'd done the night before. Chunks around her face where completely free.

 

Her hair was generally a mess no matter what she did since perms and flat irons had never appealed to her, so she decided to forgive the trouble of trying to do much at all with it and she simply brushed some coconut oil through the locks, and twisted them up into a bun. Her bangs hung around her eyes and the curve of her face, but she left them. She'd put on a beanie before leaving, which would help somewhat.

 

 

_Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?_

_Never looked better, and you can't stand it_

 

For just a moment, Wren studied her face. She tried to see herself as she knew the students at Fork's High must see her.

_Next is a trip to the, the ladies room in vain, and_

_I bet you just can't keep up with, (keep up) with these fashionistas, and_

_Tonight, tonight you are, you are a whispering campaign._

_I bet to them your name is "Cheap", I bet to them you look like shh..._

Brown skin with red undertones splashed with a healthy smattering of freckles from the bridge of her nose, well down to the edges of her jaw.

 

Dark brown eyes that were wide and rounded behind her glasses, and lips that where on the thicker side of the spectrum, though nowhere near her Aunt's own plump pout.

 

Chubby cheeks, a button nose, and thick eyebrows.

 

Her Aunty liked to tell her that she looked like her and Wren's father, but privately Wren knew she looked like a careful mix of both of her parents. Her father's African American features blended with the Haitian-Filipino-Caucasian roots from her mother.

 

She was a mix and match of genes and ethnicities that all came down to one pudgy girl with too much hair and not enough height.

 

"Baby Girl!" her Aunty called, snapping her out of her appraisal," You almost ready?"

 

Wren glanced back at the mirror for a second, and then snatched up a tube of Chapstick to swipe quickly over her lips.

 

 

_Talk to the mirror, oh, choke back tears._

_And keep telling yourself that "I'm a diva!"_

_Oh and the smokes in that cigarette box on the table,_

_they just so happen to be laced with nitroglycerin._

 

"Five minutes!" She called back.

 

_I'm the new cancer, never looked better, you can't stand it._

_Because you say so under your breath._

_You're reading lips "When did he get all confident?"_

She knew she didn't exactly look like the rest of Forks's predominately white population, but she looked like herself so that was all that mattered. Not everyone could be tall, pale, and gorgeous. 

_Haven't you heard that I'm the new cancer?_

_Never looked better, and you can't stand it_

 

She slipped on her shoes and beanie along with a large black hoodie, grabbed her keys, phone, and backpack, and she walked out of her room, snagging her iPod off of the dock between her steps.

 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

 

History and Science.

 

Those where the classes she shared with Jasper, and even if she had managed to forget his name coming from her teachers lips the day previous, there was no mistaking his literal prescience.

 

When she walked into fifth period US History almost ten minutes early, she'd done so with the intention of not having to see him walk in.

 

She hadn't bothered to seek out what most everyone she'd heard dubbed the 'Cullen Table', and instead she'd once again sat with Maria and her friends. They were a lively group, yet not so out of pocket that she was uncomfortable sitting with them for the most part.

 

Still, some of her more prominent avoidant tendencies had risen up as the lunch hour had gone by, and she'd found herself nudging Maria to tell the girl that she was going to head on to her fifth period. She'd gotten a smile and a few 'see you laters' as she shouldered her bag, and then she'd stuck her hands in her pockets and her headphones in her ears as she found her way towards the hall that housed most of the history classes.

 

History wasn't her favorite subject to begin with, but she'd known just on the first day that she was going to have trouble. She was a mathematician at her core, and History couldn't hold her attentions well enough to keep her mind from wandering. Still, it wasn't a completely terrible class, as she could tell that her teacher did actually care about his subject, which was always nice to see.

 

All in all, she didn't exactly _hate_ having to go to history, but when she'd gotten halfway through the door she'd still felt the strong urge to turn around and leave.

 

She was ashamed to realize that her need to leave had everything to do with honey eyed blonde seated near the middle of the classroom. His long limbs where relaxed, a leg extended beneath the desk in front of him, and he'd evidently been gazing out of the window next to him right up until she'd entered the room.

 

She'd thought her steps had been quiet, but with her headphones in perhaps she'd been louder then she thought since she couldn't figure out any other reason why he had snapped his head around to look at her quite so fast.

 

It was probably one of the most awkward moments she'd ever experienced, and it was made up entirely of her standing in the center of the doorway staring at him, and him staring back.

 

 _'This is fucking weird,'_ she thought, and then her common sense kicked in and she looked away.

 

Without a word, she found a desk on the opposite side of the room and sat down to set her things up.

 

That had been the _second_ time he caught her staring, and he probably thought she was a complete freak. She didn't blame him all things considered.

 

Then again, if he had an issue with the awkward moments maybe he shouldn't have stared back.

 

Minutes ticked by, and Wren did her best to ignore his presence and completely erase any trace of her less than stellar moments from her mind. She knew she sometimes made a big deal out of little things, and she could feel that happening now. She refused to get bent out of shape about a couple of awkward glances, though, so she forced herself to let it go.

 

Slowly, students filed into the room and she settled back into school mode, giving her attention to searching for the mechanical pencils she knew where somewhere in her bag.

 

For as sure as she was that the writing tool was in her bag, she was having a hell of a time finding it. She was still searching when her teacher, Mr. Shaw, called the class to attention and began speaking. Since she only had one pencil with her today, she continued to look and listened to the man as she sifted through her things.

 

"All right class, I'm sure by now you've all heard of my infamous projects," he began, obviously assuming much of his class had been at Forks High in the years before.

 

He was right, of course, but Wren still felt a slight Stan of irritation at being left out of the loop before she dismissed it. Some things just weren't worth feeling.

 

"For those of you that don't know, I'm talking about my Timeline Projects. These will be worth half of your overall grade in this class, and you will be assigned a partner to work with throughout the year."

 

Most of the class groaned, and Wren could understand why. In her experience, partner projects usually ended in either one person doing all the work, or a shitty project over all. On the rare occasion that you got a good partner, things worked out okay, but that wasn't very likely. Add that to the fact that Wren didn't like being around too many people anyways, and 'partner project' may as well have been spelled D, I, S, A, S, T, E, R.

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you all hate it already, I know. Quite your complaining because it won’t phase me. I’ve been doing this for years and when someone else’s grade is on the line, I find my students tend to motivate each other. It also helps some of our more antisocial friends learn how to handle life better, so pack up your stuff so I can assign partners already. You all will thank me for this when you take your finals and actually know the material.”

 

For some reason, Wren felt as if that little comment on antisocial tendencies was aimed at her, but logic said that it was more of a general populace thing. A lot of teens tended to hate interacting with people outside of their chosen group of friends so closely.

 

Still, a lot of her class seemed to take his comment personally, and many shot Mr. Shaw dirty looks. He just stared smugly right back at them because they all knew he was in charge here. They couldn’t do shit other then complain. (Which they all would.)

 

Resigned to her fate, Wren simply held her notebook and textbook in her arms, and resolved to resume her search for her pencil once she was reseated. 

 

She rocked back on her heels as Mr. Shaw called the names, not really too interested in the parings. Some people seemed happy, some seemed pissed, and some seemed to just take it as it was like she did.

 

Honestly even though it was only her second day and she wasn’t fully through it yet, Wren was pretty tired. She tended not to sleep well to begin with, and the tiredness had followed her through most of her short life. She knew that bags under her eyes wasn’t a foreign look on her, and it had even ceased to worry her Aunt. Her lack of sleep wasn’t necessarily at a dangerous level, and Wren wasn’t a fan of sleeping pills, so as long as she functioned okay her Aunty left her alone.

 

Usually it didn’t bother her much, but on the days it did she always needed a quick nap before she felt like doing anything. From lethargy sweeping through her body, she could tell that today would be a nap day.

 

In order to make room for a little shut eye, she began to mentally catalogue what she had planned, her eyes going unfocussed as she sorted through her mind.

 

After school she’d planned to head home, which would take twenty minutes. After that she figured she would get a snack and do the little homework she’d already accumulated, which would be maybe an hour or two depending on how distracted she got. Her Aunt would probably be home by then and they’d watch whatever show the woman had set to record while Wren cooked, so that knocked out maybe another two hours. Those things alone pushed her up to 8 pm, so she figured she’d have to shove her nap in around 5.

 

Maybe she could-

 

“-ren Kitt!”

 

Wren was immediately startled out of her thoughts, and she found a faint embarrassment buzzing up as she covertly glanced around the room. Mr. Shaw had said her partner’s name first, and she’d missed it. The man continued to go on, and saw that he’d just stuck them in alphabetical order, so all she had to do was figure out who was before her in the alphabet.

 

She tried to see if anyone was walking towards her, but she didn’t pick anyone obvious in the shuffling crowed. Frowning, she tried her best to remember if any of her classmates had last names that started with J. No one came to mind, though.

 

Sighing, she rubbed her index finger and thumb up along either side of her nose, pushing her glasses up slightly. She really should have paid attention, as asking Mr. Shaw to repeat himself was likely just to get her sass. He seemed like the sassy type of teacher.

 

“Where there any I’s?” she muttered quietly to herself.

 

She hadn’t really been expecting anyone to hear her, let alone answer.

 

“No there weren’t, but you might wanna try H, darlin’.”

 

Even with the knowledge that she should have been, Wren still hadn’t been very aware of her surroundings.

 

So when a deep southern drawl rang clear in her ears while she was standing in some white washed suburban school in ‘nobody knows where’ Washington state, she had a very inappropriate response to the very out of place accent.

 

“Who the _fuck_?”

 

Her hand came up to slap over her mouth about the same time she caught sight of Jasper Hale staring down at her with one golden eyebrow raised.

 

Her heart just about stopped when three things registered: He’d gotten way too close without her noticing. At five feet two inches, someone as big as him should have never been allowed near her because she felt like a literal ant. And finally, if the actual words out of his mouth where anything to go by, he was her new History partner.

 

For the entire year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyways Wren is an awkward noodle who’s just trying her best. 
> 
> I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to write from Jasper’s POV and I scream. Low key need someone else to write his POV for me lmfao (don’t worry I’ll figure it out I got this.)
> 
> But actually I’m gonna try to do the next chapter from Jasper’s POV, so more Jazz! Yay!


	3. Fate and Free Will (Where's the Line)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> …Low key I should be writing for my batman fic lol.
> 
> Anyways here’s Jasper!! This is just him explaining some stuff, and then we’re back to Wren and we get more Cullen interaction in the next chapter, but I promise next time I write Jasper we’ll get to see Wren/Jasper interaction from his POV.
> 
> I’ve never written him before, and I’m not sure how this came out but idk.

She smelled like sugar.

From what little he could remember of his time before immortality, Jasper knew that he had always been a reserved man. He had a strong moral sense that not even vampirism had stolen, and it lived within him when a beating heart could not. He knew when respect as due, and how to show it appropriately. He knew when to step back and keep to himself, and he knew how to conduct himself when something needed to be said or done. At his core, Jasper was a pacifist.

Most of the time.

But, for all of Jasper’s calmer tendencies, there was still a part of him that was a little bit wilder. That part of him was what had allowed him to break free of Maria’s clutches despite the attachment he’d had to her. That part of him was what craved knowledge, tactic, and order. That part of him was what allowed for his brutality in battle. That part of him was what created the soldier that was in his very soul.

That part of him was The Major, and when Wren Kitt had walked into Forks’s unimpressive little lunchroom smelling like some old granny’s kitchen right after she’d finished making dessert, he’d stood at attention without leaving any room for dismissal.

It had been right then and there, when his disappointingly amber eyes had met startled brown, that the Major had developed a sweet tooth.

Jasper, for all of his reservation, hadn’t had it in him to do anything about that, evening knowing how dangerous it could be.

Now at nearly 164 years old, he _did_ know better than to let such an unpredictable variable go. A good tactician knew that wild cards could spell disaster in the long run, and it was always better to be safe than sorry. Jasper was nothing if not a shrewd planner, but this time he knew he couldn’t eliminate the threat.

Because even if Alice hadn’t told him of Wren’s existence the very first day they’d met, he’d have known what she was by the way she made his dead heart ache to beat again. They’d been surrounded by too many scents for him to notice at first without actively looking for her.

There had been too many scents, too many noises, and just over all too much for him to focus on for him to notice her when she’d first walked into the lunchroom, but once he’d heard her…

Once he’d heard her voice, soft and slightly raspy as she posed her innocent question about who _he_ was, he’d been caught. She hadn’t said anything more, but her acquaintances had spoken and against his usual behavior, he’d turned to look.

As soon as he’d pin pointed her location, he had been able to find her scent, and all of his carefully won control had been shot.

Wide eyes, an innocent face, and a scent so sweet it made his mouth water had triggered an instinct in him that he had never been aware of before…

And for the first time, he realized just why the love he felt from Carlisle and Esme was so intense. Why the emotions from Rosalie and Emmet when they were around each other trumped anything else.

Why Peter had been willing to forsake Maria for Charlotte, when the former had an entire army behind her.

He’d discovered what it felt like to find the other half of your soul, and before he could stop himself, he’d projected his need to simply claim her right then and there. Focused as he was, he’d been able to feel the second her mild curiousness had been flushed out in favor of the pure need he’d unintentionally projected, and he was ashamed at how easily having her project his own desire back at him had broken his control.

Afterwards, when he’d been able to clear his mind, he had been thankful that Emmet had managed to drag him out of the school and _away_ before he tore apart everything between him and his mate.

While it had happened, though, he’d wanted to rip tear Emmet limb from limb and toss every piece into a blazing fire. As it was, Jasper had actually severed the other man’s left arm, torn out a chunk of his neck, and broken off all of his fingers before he’d calmed down enough to realize what he was actually doing.

Jasper knew he should have felt more guilt for injuring his adopted brother… But the Major’s pride prevented him from truly feeling bad. He had a reason, and no one got to man handle him like that and live. Emmet was lucky, and their entire family knew it if the way they’d been treating him for the last few days was anything to go by.

He’d worked hard to maintain his diet and temperament, but he’d ruined all of the trust he’d built with the Cullens in a matter of seconds, and they all knew it. There had been apprehension in their acceptance of him at first, but Alice had fixed that.

Alice, who he privately had considered his own guardian angel for some time, had showed them that he was not just the monster his history made him out to be. He was the God of War, yes, but he was also just _Jasper._ There was a man behind the madness, and it had even taken him a long time to realize that.

Some days, he was still realizing.

It was a process that required effort, and support, but he’d been well on his way. For years, it had been Alice who had guided him, and he had loved her for it.

In some ways, he still did.

She had shown him a new way out of his darkness, and had offered a light in her ever present happiness for him to focus on. She was his beacon, and his reason for continuing on some days, and he had loved her for it. He had fallen in love with her for it, and after they’d met, he’d been adamant in taking her for his mate.

He had seen that she loved him as well, but it hadn’t been like he loved her.

For a while, that he’d been hurt over that, but he had understood.

From their very first day together, she’d warned him that he had something better coming. She’d warned that she was just the beginning of his happiness; of his personal peace. At the time, he hadn’t been able to see beyond the peace that _she_ offered him, but even there she had shown him his way.

While Alice had been his beginning, she could not be his end. She did, after all, have a mate of her own who she was determined to wait for.

After decades of being companions sharing time, space, and even intimacy when she was sure he understood that it could not last, he found himself adapting to the Cullen clan when it was time and all it had to offer him. It was then that he also realized that even if it had hurt him at first, Alice had been right in her choices.

A part of him ached for the fae like creature he’d come to love, but beside it was the part of him that was hollow in a way he hated.

And now, as he sat amongst children who were only just beginning their much shorter lives, he watched a girl with earth toned skin tap her pencil against her desk and wondered what exactly about her was meant to fill him in a way that Alice couldn’t.

Wren was his, of that there was no denying, but he didn’t know why. He had hardly said a word to her, and knew little more than her appearance and her name. Even from those things alone, he could safely say that she was nothing he’d expected.

Alice was already ecstatic for him, and it was only by his request that she hadn’t yet tried to befriend her.

The rest of his family… were less enthused. They were afraid of him, which was something he’d spent years trying to prevent, but the truth was that fear of him would always be there, and for good reason. He would never be able to get rid of that, but he had managed trust, and more importantly, love. Those things where something he was only sure still existed because not only where his family afraid _of_ him, but they were afraid for him.

At first, after Rosalie had calmed down slightly from her almost rampage at the sight of her own mate being nearly shredded, his Carlisle had been intent on the possibility of them moving. He had assumed that Wren was his singer, and while they still loved him, no one in his coven trusted him to resist temptation.

Honestly, he did not trust himself to do such a thing either.

It was only by Edward’s assurance that Jasper didn’t see the young girl as a _meal_ that Jasper was even allowed back t school. Still, Carlisle had almost had one of his siblings transferred into the classes he shared with Wren to ensure nothing happened.

It was there Jasper had put his foot down, even knowing that it would not help him get back in their good graces.

He may have been willing to do whatever it took to maintain their life style and keep them safe, but he still had to do what was needed for himself as well.

Edward had confirmed his suspicions that Wren was withdrawn, and Jasper had figured that having another of his kind in the class would set off her instincts, and possibly keep her farther from him. The Major rebelled against that idea violently, and so Jasper had stood his ground.

While Carlisle may have served as his ‘father’, they still had an understanding that Jasper was his own _man_ as well… And that if it ever came down to it, there would be no way for Carlisle to win even with his superior age.

So Jasper remained unaccompanied in his last two periods, his family remained in fear because of his rash actions, and he was left with a new mate and no idea what he _wanted_ to do with her.

He knew what he should do, and he knew what fate had decided for him, but at the end of the day Jasper had worked hard to obtain the freedom to do what _he_ wished, and he wasn’t quite ready to let fate take that from him…

….and a part of him wasn’t quite ready to let go of Alice either, even if she had never truly been his.

But he wouldn’t completely reject what was put before him; he couldn’t.

He would test the waters, even if it was something he wasn’t sure if he could handle.

He would try and be this girl’s friend, and perhaps figure out the will of his own heart along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here’s the deal: I actually love Alice. I like Alice and Jasper. I love the idea of Soul mates and true mates and all that.  
> But I also like OC’s. And I like different. And I really, really like to play with developing relationships.  
> I think that love takes time, and effort, and yeah some people can just do the ‘love at first sight’ thing, but Jasper isn’t the same as Edward. Jasper was more mature, he had to be because of where life put him as a human. He always seemed just… More to me then Edward did. Edward was okay, and yeah I guess Bella worked for him, but not everyone can just go right into it. Not everyone can just be like ‘wham, I’m gonna drop everything for u’  
> So that’s not what this story is about. This story is about learning how to move on, learning what love is, and learning about the true meaning of forever.   
> This will follow the books, but it will also be an AU that focuses on Jasper, and Alice, and even Rosalie because I freaking love her.  
> I’m going to take the idea of ‘True Mates’ and run with it, twist it, and make it something we don’t usually see in the Twilight fandom, so tell me what you think, and hopefully I’ll be able to pull this through and you all will enjoy the ride.


	4. It Comes In Waves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we goooo

One thing that was very obvious about Wren was that she wasn’t a social butterfly, and she had no issue admitting that she never had been. In California, her friends had been limited to a few casual lunch buddies, some long distance people, and the few people she talked to in her classes.

There had been no long lasting, ever enduring childhood friends. There had been no ultra strong connections made as she passed from elementary to middle school, and then from middle school to high school. She simply wasn’t one to form such strong attachments, and while that may have worried her Aunt, Wren had always been fine with that. She got enough interaction in school, and coming home for some time to herself had suited her needs just fine, though to some it may have come off as a monotonous and lonely existence.

If she looked at it objectively, she could admit that perhaps it had been, but such a way of life had its merits. It was really hard to miss what you never had, and generally when one kept to themselves, there were less people to worry about when it came to keeping secrets.

Now she didn’t have anything really huge to hide, not really. She didn’t have a dark, dirty secret, or anything that she was truly ashamed of. There was nothing she felt would be damming or lead to disaster if people found out, but there _were_ some things that she didn’t particularly like talking about. These where the things she personally felt weren’t so terrible or uncommon, but they were experiences she knew others would see differently than she did.

So she kept to herself, and she kept her secrets. As she sat through a continued lecture on thermodynamics and its properties, Wren determined that it was probably her own experience with shielding certain pieces of herself from the world that allowed her to see when others were doing the same.

Like things tended to be drawn together after all, and at the end of the day her own guarded eyes saw right through his. Or at least, she saw far enough through the way he conducted himself to see that perhaps there was more to him than just a pretty face and all too perfect family.

“Alright!” her teacher announced abruptly, breaking her out of her errant thoughts,” don’t forget we have a lab tomorrow!”

Surprised at the fact that the class had ended in the time she’d been lost in her own thoughts, Wren glanced down at her paper to see a chicken scratch mess of notes that had been taken on auto pilot.

Letting out a soft sound of distress, she ended up just closing the notes into her notebook and putting it all away. She was used to zoning out, but lately her mind seemed to wonder towards one direction every time, and it was starting to get troublesome.

She had been telling herself that she was so drawn to him because of the mystery he presented, but she’d seen people with secrets before and hadn’t found herself reacting quite the same way. There was part of her deep, deep down that said there was something more to the way her eyes were drawn to him whenever he was in the room no matter what. She probably should have listened to that, and tried to figure it out, but the truth was that she was almost afraid of what she’d find.

Jasper had looks, money, status, and that air of untouchable perfection to him that was edged out with the tiniest bit of danger, and she knew none of those things where for her, so she tried to calm her mind and keep her distance.

Tried was the key word there, because there were times where she was sure the world had it out for her.

As she walked out of her chemistry classroom, she figured now was one of those times because Jasper was leaning his long, lean body against the wall just outside the door, and she unintentionally caught his eye as she passed. His eyes seemed just a little bit darker lately; closer to liquid gold then the amber tone his family sported. At first, she thought they all wore contacts as some sort of weird family connection thing, but these days she wasn’t so sure…

“Hey,” he said simply.

Though he hadn’t said but one word, he still seemed to demand all of her attention, and she found herself standing just a little straighter.

Still, her first instinct was to try and brush him off and move on with her day, but she knew she couldn’t. She’d been looking at him dead on when he spoke, and it would be an asshole move to duck out. So she bit the bullet, raised her eyebrow so that he knew he had her attention, and tried to fight the urge to fold in on herself. 

She knew technically her response came off as a little haughty, and he did too if the way he raised his own eyebrow in response was any indication.

“You know, Darlin’, I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me.”

Now Wren still didn’t fully understand why, but there was just something about that slow drawl and the infliction on his words that made her want to swear to the high heavens. Even if his accent was much more subtle then it had been the first time she’d heard it, the southern twang was still there. She couldn’t even distinguish if the weird thrill that shot through her was nervousness, irritation, or excitement.

All of them made her very, very uncomfortable, and contributed to the heat quickly moving from her cheeks all the way down to her chest. What embarrassment didn’t come from the reaction in her voice made its way from the fact that he was actually calling her out.

After they’d been assigned as history partners and she subsequently made a fool of herself and probably offended him, they’d spent the rest of the period in near silence. It had suited her just fine, especially since Mr. Shaw had just explained what their assignment would be and she didn’t have to interact at all to begin with.

Since then though, Wren had hardly bothered to follow up on any project plans with Jasper, and she tended to leave every class she had as soon as possible anyway, so she always left before him. She understood that if she wanted her grade not to die, she was going to have to work with him, but she had figured they could just push it off. She took her notes, and as far as she knew, he took his. There was no need for either of them to do anything else, in her mind.

He was apparently thinking differently though.

“Okay…” she finally said, deciding to get the arrangements out of the way before her nerves were completely shot,” Firstly my name is actually Wren.”

The whole him calling her ‘Darlin’ thing just wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t a fan of nicknames to begin with since her name was so short, but him calling her darling was just way too out there. It was too familiar, and the way he said it wasn’t helping.

She’d shifted out of the way of the door and to Jasper’s other side, and now that he had her attention, Jasper took it upon himself to push off the wall and face her, standing to his full height.

They were close enough that she would have to tilt her head back if she wanted to look at him, so she opted to just move farther away. It was a little daunting.

“I’m well aware of what your name is, I just need to know if I’m doing something that’s bothering you.”

She wanted to tell him that him just standing there and breathing bothered her, but many conversations with her Aunt had taught her that telling him what she felt would be rude, so she went a different route.

“You’re not, I’m sorry I made it seem that way. I’m just… I don’t know. I’m sorry, what did you have in mind for the project?”

Thinking was easy for her, but talking was another thing entirely.

Oddly enough, he seemed to get it and he just nodded.

“I hadn’t thought on it too hard, and I figured it should be something we do together since it’s for both of our grades.

 Wren felt herself begin to relax just the slightest bit, but the anxiousness she was feeling began to ebb away at the calm, and so she banished them both. Instead of letting her brain dwell on emotion twisting things, she brought her mind over to a more academic standpoint at let that be her center.

“That’s probably what Mr. Shaw intended anyways. Are you, uh… Free today?”

She felt awkward asking him that, but given the context she felt that it was necessary. Besides, she didn’t truly know him so there was no reason for her to expect the worst of him yet.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Jasper could feel the discomfort radiating off of the small girl in waves, and he fought off an entirely too inappropriate smirk. Normally he would have tried to help her, but her emotions shifted far too fast for him to keep up with. One second irritation rang sharp, then there was curiousness, or fear, or his personal favorite, an inkling of lust that denoted an attraction that seemed to confuse her all the more.

It should have made _him_ uncomfortable; as such a rollercoaster of emotion usually made his head spin and completely overwhelmed him, but the abrupt bouts of calm kept it from being too much. It was like she felt every emotion vividly, but only for so long before she herself shut everything down into a startling calm. It left him wondering just what exactly she was doing and how she was doing it.

More importantly, it left him feeling like he was on a controlled high every other moment that evened out to calm instead of having him crash by the end of it.

He couldn’t exactly ask her what she was doing without giving something that he didn’t want her asking after away, though, so he decided to focus on her question instead. From what he’d seen, Wren was skittish and avoidant and while the Major and every animal instinct he possessed was screaming ‘chase’, he knew she wasn’t playing coy.

She wasn’t doing what she was doing to entice him, and she most definitely didn’t want him coming after her like a bull in heat. There was something more to her behavior, and he needed to figure out what it was before he caught himself doing something that would screw them both up. With that in mind, he decided that he needed to get to know her better, and the perfect opportunity had presented itself.

“I’m free whenever you need me to be,” he told her as he tried his best to read beneath the calm she was presenting.

Despite the fact that she was feeling one way, he had the oddest feeling that she was somehow layering her emotions and if he just looked deep enough there was…

 _‘Ah, there we have it,’_ he thought to himself.

Emotions, for him, appeared in waves. It was as if the entire emotional spectrum was a shifting ocean, and he was a rock stuck right next to the epicenter of every ripple. Strong emotions crashed over him, and the weaker ones simply brushed against his edges. Unfortunately with teenagers, almost every emotion tended to come in large, very nearly crushing waves. Luckily, he had just enough control to center himself amidst the proverbial storm of a high school.

Wren though, was a little different. Her emotions where still very much the same as everyone else’s, but when she was at her calm and the surface was still, there where currents just beneath that brushed at the bottom of his psyche if he allowed himself to feel them. Most of the emotions he felt where nearly tangible, but what she was doing was the gentlest of caresses. It was startlingly familiar, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what was going on.

After some moments, her soft voice broke him from his thoughts.

“Right… Well if you’d like, I guess I could get your email and we could figure out a plan later on tonight.”

There were many ways Jasper could have responded. He knew how to plan, and he knew how to manipulate to get what he wanted. He also knew that this girl, whoever she was, didn’t quite fit anything he was expecting yet. He needed more information if he was to ever get anywhere with her, and he needed to be careful because with one look he knew he had the capability to destroy her. He knew a lot of things, while simultaneously not enough.

Still, in the end, he’d led armies into battles far fiercer then one small human girl, and so he swallowed the irrational fear he had that he was going to do something terribly wrong, and he reached into his bag to rip out a spare piece of paper.

Wren watched him as he wrote with her wide eyes, and he was reminded of fawn he’d seen in the forest just the week before.

He’d ripped out it’s mothers jugular not seconds before the creature had gone running, but he still remembered the curious innocence the creature had looked at him with. New eyes, just beginning to see the world for what it was. Predator and prey, hunt or be hunted…

It was all the same, in the end, and as he finished writing Wren reached out for the paper he held and he grabbed her hand, never bothering to break eye contact. Pupils dilated, her heart rate picked up, and he watched for the same realization that had come into the fawn’s eyes to alight in Wren’s; the tale tell realization in her eyes that she should run before she too, was caught.

He did not blink, nor did he remove his gaze, but he could still see the twitch of her hand in his as much as he could feel it. He could feel the sweat beading on her palm, the warmth of her blood rushing through her veins, and the smell of the sugary sweet chocolate she’d evidently eaten at some point on the tips of her fingers. Slowly, he slid his thump onto her palm, pressing her small hand open, and he slid the paper against the soft skin.

She really was small, and for just a moment he thought of Alice and his frozen heart tried its best to ache. Then he forced himself to look at the warmth of her skin in both color and feel, and to focus on the sweet smelling blood gathered in her reddened cheeks.

He leaned down just enough to make sure she couldn’t look anywhere but straight at him, and then he gave her his most charming smile and closed her fist tight around the piece of paper.

“See you ‘round, Darlin’.”

**.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**

By them time she’d gained her senses back enough to stop staring at the space Jasper Hale had just vacated, Wren’s hand had dropped to her side, the palm still tingling and her mind still tangled in the coolness of his skin.

Embarrassed beyond belief, she abruptly tried her best to physically scrub any remainder of her reaction off of her face, and she rushed home, shoving the paper into her pocket as she went.

All in all, it was a good two hours after she got home before she’d even bothered to look at the note he’d written.

She’d finished her homework, and had done all the necessary prep for lasagna before putting her food in the oven and falling onto her couch in front of the TV. She was worn out from her day, and ready to doze for a while when she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket.

She dug it out, a few random pieces of wrapper and paper falling from the same pocket, and idly read her Auntie’s text that she’d be home late. That didn’t bother her too much, and she texted back an ‘ok’ before settling back in the couch and flipping through the channels.

Knowing better then to leave trash on the couch, she picked up what had fallen out of her pocket and glanced down at it. After a moment of blankness, she remembered that Jasper had given her the white bit of paper peeking out from beneath a mini Hershey’s wrapper, and she plucked it out before stuffing the rest back into her pocket.

Though it was a simple piece of paper, Wren looked at it as if it was going to bite her. It was stupid, she knew, but she still hadn’t gotten completely over her reaction to Jasper just a few hours earlier. He probably thought she was a complete dweeb for freezing up like she had, but she wasn’t used to her _friends_ getting close to her like that, let alone big guys like him. She’d be over it in the morning, but for now she felt like an ass…

She felt even worse when she finally unfolded the paper and saw the scrawl of digits instead of the email address she’d been expecting. For a second, she was pretty confused before it registered that the seven digits on the paper where a telephone number.

After she figured that one out, her confusion was for a completely different reason.

“ _What the everloving fuck?_ ”

Lucky for her, her Auntie wasn’t home to chastise her for her language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha idk what Im doing.


	5. What You Waiting For?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I sat down to write this and got distracted by Drag Queens. Rupal’s Drag Race will be my downfall.

She didn’t call him that night, nor did she plan on calling him _any_ night. Instead her insomnia had her up at two am and her complete need to keep _some type_ of distance between herself and Jasper had her outlining a diagram for the Declaration of Independence. She made a note sheet to go with it that mentioned doing a visual aid for each section, and then she found Jasper’s locker and jammed it through the opening without a second glance.

Finding his locker had been as easy as texting Maria and asking. Tall, blonde, and handsome would be prime pickings in any high school, and Forks was no different. He had a myriad of girls lusting after him, and lucky for her, they all did their best to stalk their heart’s desire. As such, Maria the gossip monger had known exactly where Jasper’s locker was. All Wren had needed to do was mention that they where history partners, and she was free to do whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately for Maria’s poor, mass media fed romantic heart, Wren didn’t actually want to write Jasper sweet little love letters or gush over how hot he was at sleepovers. She just wanted to stay under his radar because all the self preservation she had told her that there was more going on behind all that southern charm.

Then again, Wren had found that most people had more going on than just what they liked to put out at school. That was just the nature of life, after all.

That had been two days ago, and in that time she’d dealt with the awkwardness she knew she’d have to face with her blatant avoidance. Still, it had been worth it once she got past his questioning looks. He’d taken the hint that she wanted to be left to her own devices, and as far as she knew he’d gone ahead and finished the project she’d started for him.

Hopefully.

Mr. Shaw had taken a load off of all of their shoulders by announcing that their first project wouldn’t have to be presented in front of the class, and she could only be thankful for that. She knew eventually that she’d have to get over the weirdness she felt around Jasper both for her grade and for her own peace of mind, but for now she wasn’t quite there yet.

In fact, she was so far from _there_ that when she left PE on the third day after what she thought of as the commencement of her and Jasper’s understanding that she was a weird chick who had trouble dealing with people and so he should stop with that friendly crap (a mouthful, she knew), she saw the boy in question strolling down the hall and immediately turned her music volume up to try and drown out any wayward thoughts, and swerved far away from their path.

It shouldn’t have been hard considering the wide path often left open for the Cullens to strut down, but even with her body physically on the other side of the hall, Wren still found her eyes drawn towards them… only to find two sets of amber irises staring back at her.

The smart thing to do would be to play it off as a passing glance.

Unfortunately, Wren wasn’t always smart, and so what she did instead was blush and screw her face into what was undoubtedly a truly unattractive sight.

To his credit, Jasper had the good grace to look away and let her die in peace, as she was sure he was over the reoccurring happening.

Rose on the other hand, sneered and left Wren feeling about two feet tall.

 _‘For fucks sake,’_ was all she could think without risking banging her head against the wall because of her own stupidity.

Wren wasn’t used to this, she really wasn’t. She didn’t have staring problems, and while she wasn’t the best person with interaction, avoidance issues to the extent she felt herself leaning towards weren’t something she had trouble with before.

She hardly knew the guy and had only been in his prescience for a few weeks, she really shouldn’t have been acting as she was. She didn’t know him, and…

Maybe that was the problem. She didn’t know Jasper Hale, and her teacher had set them up with forced close contact for the oncoming months. She’d never really been put in a situation with a person who appeared so different to her in every aspect, and she could only theorize that she’d reacted badly on instinct.

And the more she thought, the more she realized that there was only one way to fix it. Really, it was a way that Jasper had evidently tried but she’d rebuffed, but she figured while she may have slammed that door shut, Jasper wouldn’t be too mad if she came knocking.

He honestly seemed pretty easy going despite what everyone said about him, which seemed to be another thing she’d let back her into the corner. She knew better then to listen to gossip, but she supposed subconsciously she may have still let the talk of how he always looked uptight and like he was in pain, and oh so above the rest of the populace cloud her perception of him. As far as she’d seen, Jasper was disgustingly charming, pretty as a picture, and had this playful edge to him that she was afraid to examine too closely. Playful sometimes spelled trouble, and she wasn’t in the business to get played _with_.

But, with all that in mind, she knew she should probably swallow her nerves and give him a chance. They needed to be organized partners, and she needed to keep a clear head before she got lost in her own mess.

That was her life’s mantra, really. Keep a clear head and you can fix any situation; it had worked for her many times before. She never expected to be holding onto to her words over a boy, of all things, though. After everything she’d been through before, a single guy shouldn’t have been able to rattle her so hard without doing anything at all, and yet here she was.

But then again, it was all so very cliché as well. Seventeen years old and a boy had her messed up. She had to crack a smile at that, because if her Aunty knew, Wren figured the woman would be jumping for joy. She always had been worried about Wren being a ‘normal, healthy teenager’.

**.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**

Hours later, when she was balled up in the corner of the couch in the living room clutching her phone tight in her hand, her Aunty walked in and raised an eyebrow at her as she slipped her work heels off. Wren’s music was blasting, but this was something her Aunt was used too. Still, Wren knew she looked a little bit worse for wear. She couldn’t help it though, especially with Gwen Stefani’s voice seemingly taunting her through the speakers.

_Naturally I'm worried if I do it alone_

_Who really cares 'cause it's your life_

“What’s going on with you?” her Aunty questioned, slipping onto the couch and rubbing her feet.

Wren could see the tiredness in her Aunty’s eyes, and she could already tell that the woman would probably be skipping dinner in order to head straight to sleep.

_You never know, it could be great_

_Take a chance 'cause you might grow_

_Oh, oh oh_

Wren also knew that as tired as she was, her Aunt wouldn’t dream of getting into bed if she thought there was something wrong with her niece.

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting for!?_

But truly there was nothing going on with her other then nerves at asking her History partner if he wanted to get lunch with her and Maria so they could get to know each other better and working together would be less awkward. She’d typed out a text that said he should bring one of his siblings or friends or something, and she didn’t come straight out and say it, but being in a group seemed easier. Maria probably wasn’t the best choice considering her own slightly star struck adoration of the Cullens, but Wren didn’t really have anyone else. As it was she needed some type of support since going right out and being blunt about her need to get to know him better had taken all of her strength. She’d cut any bullshitting to keep from getting anything misconstrued, and gotten straight to the point.

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting_

_What you waiting for!?_

“I’m fine,” she told her Aunt.

Angel looked at her critically for a moment, and seemed ready to argue with Wren’s answer, but after a moment she shook her head.

“Okay then…”

Wren let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding, but still found herself clutching her phone. While she’d typed out her message, she still hadn’t sent it yet.

She knew what she had wrote wasn’t anything out of the ordinary though. She knew, and now that she wasn’t alone and had the stable presence of her Aunt, Wren followed her own mantra.

She took a deep breath, unclenched her phone, and glanced down at the screen.

She read the text, quietly listening to Gwen Stefani continue to ironically sing her song.

_Tick tock_

_Tick tock_

_Tick tock_

_Tick tock_

So, with a deep breath, Wren quickly moved her fingers and pressed ‘send’ on the message that had been sitting on her phone for the better part of half an hour.

For the rest of the night, the text read through her mind on repeat.

‘Hey. I realize that I’ve been off around you lately and I’m sorry about that. I’m a bit weird around new people sometimes and I figured if we’re going to be partners for the rest of the year that I should fix that, so how about we grab lunch one weekend or something so we can get a little more familiar with each other? I was planning on going out this weekend with a friend and if you’re not busy you could come along? If you want to bring your sister or a friend or something feel free…’

**.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**

Jasper almost missed her text.

Not because he wasn’t near his phone, which he kept on him and charged more out of habit these past few years, but because before he’d even _received_ the text a tiny dark haired pixie had appeared in front of him and snatched his phone out of his pocket.

He’d been in his room idly toying with an old chess board as he contemplated asking Edward for a game, and while his mind may have been somewhat occupied, he wasn’t relaxed enough for Alice to truly catch him off guard. It wasn’t that he felt threatened, necessarily, it was just that he couldn’t remember a time where he’d ever truly let down his guard. He was always, _always_ aware of his surroundings whether consciously or subconsciously enough that any threat to his being could be effectively neutralized as quickly and as efficiently as possible. As such, she’d barely managed to pull her hand away from his pocket before he’d caught her wrist on instinct and her gaze snapped up to his.

Jasper cared deeply for Alice, and he made no effort to hide that. She knew he loved her, though admittedly he was coming to terms with learning to love her as one would a sister, and she knew that as one of the closest people to his heart, she had his devotion and he would never harm her. Even with that knowledge, though, she still froze, large smile, wildly excited eyes and all when he prevented her from stealing her prize and trapped her, fangs slightly bared on instinct.

In the few seconds that she remained in his grasp, face just inches from his fangs, Jasper remembered yet another of the reasons he had allowed for Alice’s insistence that he wait for his Mate. No matter how strongly he felt, and no matter what he did, there was still that little bit of fear that lived in Alice of him.

In those few seconds before his psyche registered that this was Alice and she was not, in fact, attacking him, Jasper looked into her golden eyes and despite everything, he saw the fear of a vampire who knew she was far outclassed in power and skill. He saw her fear of the God of War, because despite everything, despite Jasper loving the excitable woman, the Major had never been able to let her come close without wanting to snap. There were certain allowances the Major allowed with his own being, and Alice had just barely been given them. There had been times when they’d laid together where Jasper had to continuously push down the anxiety that came from being so exposed in that proximity to another vampire. So in those times, Jasper had kept the Major under lock and key.

And Alice had never been able to fully accept the part of Jasper that could not accept her, because she knew as well as he did that if it came down to it, he could still utterly destroy her and everyone else she’d ever loved. That was who the Major was after all; a complete and utter monster. That was who Jasper was, at the end of the day.

And when Jasper released her, face softening and fingers pulling his phone from her own slackened grip, he could not fault her for her fear. He could not fault her for not allowing him to let his feelings grow for her, or return them at all. He loved her too much, already, so not wanting to deal with what he already hated was something he could understand.

Suddenly the phone in his hand had vibrated, shaking him from his quickly darkening musings.

“This something important?” he questioned, holding his phone between them.

All at once Alice’s cheer came back, and Jasper fed off of the happiness she was exuding like the leech he was. Alice was all bright bursts, and he let her overjoyed emotion wash over him, lifting his own spirits.

“Absolutely! You should answer back yes right now, Jasper!” she gushed.

Amused, Jasper finally checked the text, and suddenly found himself at an impasse. On one hand, he wanted to do what Alice asked because he knew it would make her happy. But… Then there was _Alice_.

He could admit that there was a part of him that was intrigued by the young girl who he’d hoped would reach out to him in the first place, but he wasn’t sure if it was for the right reasons. He didn’t just want a replacement to feel the place Alice had left empty. He didn’t want that for himself, nor did he want it for Wren. She hadn’t done anything to deserve such treatment.

Yes he was letting his love for Alice shift, and as the months went by he was beginning to think that perhaps his love for her had not been rooted in the places he’d originally thought, though it was true, but he was not finished figuring out his own feelings yet. He couldn’t drag young, nervous Wren through on that journey with him.

“Jasper? What are you waiting for?” Alice chirped, grabbing for his phone again.

 She wouldn’t be getting it unless he allowed her to, of course, but it was clear she was getting impatient. For all of the foresight she was gifted with, she was often impulsive and that had always served as a bit of an irritant to Jasper. How could someone like her not think before they acted? But it was Alice, and so it didn’t _truly_ bother him.

Letting out a deep, unnecessary breath through his nose, Jasper stared hard at the words on the small screen, almost searching for an answer inside the question.

He found none, and instead appreciated the truth in the carefully typed words for what they were. He didn’t expect that there was any hiding, as she’d been doing before. She finally admitted that she was not comfortable with him, though he knew well enough after he’d found the half finished project in his locker. That alone gave him enough to believe that the rest of what she said was true.

She seemed shy enough, but she was not naïve. She knew how her question would sound, and she made her intentions clear by adding the presence of her friends, and leaving an opening for anyone he wanted to bring. She showed her sincerity in the little things, and Jasper could appreciate that enough to offer her the same authenticity. Nothing half thought through. He would be careful with this, because he found that he did want to figure out whom fate had matched him with. The Major demanded it, because he was possessive over the things he dictated as his, but Jasper _needed_ to know.

But he wasn’t sure about a lot of things, and Jasper knew that this time he needed to be sure. He had been skeptical of Alice, and had gone in on faith alone. He had found things he needed, true, but had been opened up to new holes in his being that ached all the more.

This time, Jasper needed to be careful.

‘I will have an answer for you tomorrow.’

**.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**

Still curled up on the couch, but significantly more relaxed with her task done, Wren only felt a spike of anxiety in her chest when she received a new text.

After she read it, that anxiety moved into her chest cavity faster than a new home owner who’d just gotten their keys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have probably proof read this a couple more times but. I don’t feel like it so. Sorry. I’m tired and I need sleep
> 
> Anyways thanks for reading, I hope none of you are disappointed. This story should pick up in a few chapters when we bring Bella in. That girl had enough Drama for anyone to get twisted in and unfortunately, Wren is no exception.


	6. Subtle Collision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So anyways I just went on a writing binge and I’m not fully sure this makes complete sense. I should be finishing up my other fic instead of writing for this, bc I honestly have no solid plot in mind other than like a base lmao. I just sort of know vaguely where I want to go? So yeah, have no idea what I’m doing I hope yall enjoy.

When he found her the next day, she was wearing a jacket that seemed to wear her more then she it, and the group she was in seemed to fit her even less.

They were people, alive with thoughts and action, and so he catalogued them on instinct, but they weren’t his main focus. It was the girl who sat silent in their aimless chatter that caught his attention, her face a twisted mask of polite interest and distraction that he could feel hid a bone deep unease. He figured that was her specific emotional spectrum coming to show itself again, though.

Most people where unique in the way they felt, true, but he rarely ever felt the need to examine the nuances so closely. With her though… Well somehow it had become a necessity.

It was through this necessity that he discovered that even with her ever shifting, all too powerful undercurrents of emotion, at her center there was always, _always_ a coil of discomfort wound tight. In his private thoughts, he wondered if perhaps that was the root of her ability to level herself so easily. Did she simply always come back to the unease that never let her be? What would happen if that carefully coiled ball came undone?

What had happened to get it there in the first place?

Had he been of the mind to share these tentative thoughts of the young woman, he knew someone would probably tell him that it was good for him to wonder such things. It was good for him to be interested in the soul that was meant to match his.

He knew, and yet as he neared her, rigid in his posture as he kept tight control on the instincts that surrounding humans brought out in him, he thought that it might just drive him mad.

He was able to catch a snippet of her ever present music as it played through the device shoved into her ear when he stopped, a few seconds passing before she noticed him. 

_Not shy of a spark,_

_A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark,_

_Frightened by the bite though it’s no harsher than the bark,_

_Middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start,_

His eyebrow rose at the lyrics, but he didn’t have long to ponder before she’d paused it, yanking the cord so that the small bud fell from her ear as she turned around.

_Fear, anger, excitement, confusion, calm, unease_

He saw the emotions flit through her large eyes just as much as he felt them, and he knew then, without a doubt, that _she_ was going to drive him mad.

“Hey there, Darlin’.”

_‘Surprise, lust, irritation, calm.’_

Maybe, just maybe, pushing her first would let him remain in control while she caught herself.  Maybe.

“I think I will take you up on that offer after all,” he told her.

Then, with all the hard wrought control of a soldier and a vegetarian vampire, he turned his back and walked away, paying attention to little else except for her reaction.

 

For all the sugar laden crap she ate, Wren was actually pretty healthy, and her body generally was in well working order. Sure she had what she considered a nice few extra layers on her body to ward off the cold, but she had nothing wrong with her cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive or any other system in her body.

Still, in that moment, Wren was pretty sure she almost had a literal heart attack.

One glance at the suddenly silent table of people around her, and she was pretty sure that they’d shared her experience. A few heavy seconds ticked by, and Wren saw it as a calm before the storm.

Unsurprisingly, Maria was the first downpour.

“ _Oh my god you have a date with Jasper_!”

Blanching, Wren had barely gotten a ‘No’ out before Amy piped in with her own particularly brutal clap of thunder.

“Why would Jasper go on a date with _her_? She’s like, twelve?”

Wren could concede that Amy wasn’t exactly wrong, and after a good few lunch hours spent in her company, she knew the girl wasn’t necessarily mean on purpose either. She just had a way of very bluntly blurting out what she was thinking without bothering to see if it was in any way hurtful. Wren could appreciate her honesty, and to a certain extent she could relate, but still her thoughts where somewhere along the lines of _‘Okay listen bitch…’_

“He’s my History partner; I just figured I should get to know him better is all…” was what she actually said.

She refrained from saying that she’d invited him on her outing with Maria, as she had the distinct feeling that she’d get a lot of people she had no desire to be around outside of the lunchroom inviting them along.

Lucky her, things calmed just enough that she no longer felt as if she was going have her heart tissue start beat its wait through her ribcage. There were still some skeptical looks (and okay yeah, there were a couple jealous looks too), but she only got one further comment.

“Hale’s a little freaky; good luck,” Stoner Dude, who ironically enough went by Bud, had said.  

Bud was a pretty laid back guy, and he rarely ever actually spoke ill of _anything_ from what she could tell, so she didn’t think he was just being an ass. He genuinely thought Jasper was weird, and when she glanced over to the Cullen table, she couldn’t help but agree.

Then she ended up caught in honeyed eyes, and she incidentally choked on air.

Coughing, her heated face turned away to stare at the sandwich she’d made herself for lunch, and she waved off Maria’s concern as she hacked her way through her embarrassment.

_‘Either that boy is going to kill me, or I’m going to fucking go nuts.’_

A tiny, unbidden voice inside of her said that she was already a little nuts, and she really shouldn’t be putting the blame on anyone else, _or_ saying anything about their own brand of nuttiness.

She almost felt bad, but then she remembered an all too irritating southern drawl calling her ‘Darling’ and she told that voice to shove it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Days later, she ended up standing in front of a diner waiting for her company with green apple flavored sucker close to cracking between her teeth.

After an agonizing conversation with Maria that revolved mostly around Wren trying to convince the other girl that there was no suspicious behavior going on under her nose and that _no one_ was going on a date of any kind, they’d eventually settled on meeting at the town’s most popular eatery.

It wasn’t really a big place, and it kind of gave off that all American trucker stop kind of vibe, but Wren had figured as long as they could give her a plate of fries she’d be good. Besides, the moment she’d told her aunt, the woman had been ecstatic. Wren had only been vaguely offended.

Mostly she’d just been nervous about a certain blonde, and after texting him the information and watching the days go by, her nerves only got worse. It wasn’t so much that she was worried about saying something wrong, or making a fool of her self specifically…

Rather it was that she was worried about _everything_. That was her biggest problem, really. She’d already done a pretty bad job at not making things weird with Jasper, and had just barely managed to create a friendship with Maria, who was naturally friendly. At the moment, as people moved with the flow of life around her, Wren’s anxiety seemed to hike higher and that fact that she was losing control only made it work higher and faster.

It was the worst domino effect she could imagine.

It was also one she was all too familiar with, and after she found herself flinching and ducking her head when a couple brushed past her to go inside, she bore down on herself once and for all. She couldn’t afford to be a mess when either Maria or Jasper finally showed up. More importantly, she hated feeling so out of sorts to begin with.

Slowly, Wren reeled herself back in. It was difficult, and that alone told her she was going to have a bad day overall, but she managed.

She had her headphones in, and her foot tapped in time to the beat of her song, and she let it, the feeling of heel hitting pavement one more steadying sensory distraction. It was a double beat of heal down, tap pavement, then music bass on repeat, and to some it may have seemed rather neurotic, but it was her lifeline. The sound, the movement, they where all things she used to keep her mind from running with thoughts and emotions she had no desire to have.

Most days it was a subconscious thing she did; the self imposed distractions, but on her bad days everything was different. On her bad days there would be no tap of a pencil to keep her focused, no beat of a drum to guide her train of thought, no clenched fists to slow her emotions.

On her bad days, her head pounded with what ifs and theories and problems that all seemed to spiral into a tower that she didn’t have the guts to climb, which was a problem in on itself. On these days, just being in public fed that cursed structure with anxiety and fear, a volatile mix that left her wishing to crawl out of her skin. What if that person spoke to her, what was she to say? Did she look weird? Would someone notice and call her out? How was she to respond? And so on the worries went until she could be found cornered in her own head, trying desperately to outrun her self.

Heart beating faster than it should have, Wren let her eyes slip close and she _focused._ She breathed deep, listened to her melody’s, and she _pushed compressed hid_ -

And then nearly jumped out of her skin when a cool hand brushed against her cheek.

Her eyes snapped open, and the crunch of hardened sugar between her molars was as fast as Jasper Hale’s retreat.

Really Wren felt as if she should be panicking; as if she really wanted to… But she wasn’t.

Standing tell and gorgeous before her was Jasper, and his gaze was as focused as her’s probably wasn’t. Put together where she felt scattered, Wren wished she could pull from that serenity.

Idly, though, she saw the straightness to his back, and the soldier’s stance in the clasp of his hands before him and she wondered…

_‘Is this what I look like every day?’_

He was a pretty, perhaps even expected picture… But was that really the truth?

Or maybe she was just reading into things far too much.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Generally speaking, Jasper wasn’t usually surprised all too often. When you live as long as he had, in the conditions he had, you start to recognize the pattern to human behavior, and you can act accordingly.

Still, there were some people that simply defied all expectation.

Wren was one of them.

Day after day he’d spent watching her while they attended the schooling he’d been through countless times. Day after day he felt the lapping of her emotions against the island of his abilities. Day after day he’d felt the rolling waves smooth over. 

Day after day he’d watched her, and in that time little Wren had handled herself with a sort of control he envied, despite its subtly. She was a very careful person, and very private as well. She even seemed to be burying things under that carefully smoothed surface to keep from herself.

Aside from her scent, that was what seemed to captivate him the most about her. He found that even without her position as his destined and without Alice’s pushing, she still drew him in. There was a strange sort of comfort that Jasper found in her appealing to a part of him that was outside of the vampire.

Naturally equipped with a compassionate, inquisitive mind, Jasper found that he wanted to know just what it was that she needed to keep even from herself.

That was why when he neared her, not moments after the appointed meeting time, and every emotion he’d ever felt brush against his ability from her direction came roaring out in a storm so crushing he felt his control start to slip and leave the Major rising to the surface of his mind, Jasper was completely caught off guard by the automatic wave of _calm_ he sent pouring her way.

He was even more surprised by how easily she latched onto it, snatching the emotion and wrapping herself in it, only to echo it back at him like it had been her own in the first place.

It was dizzying, maddening, completely unlike anything he’d ever experienced before… And it was the reason why he found himself unable to do anything but remain withdrawn when Wren’s companion arrived.

If propriety had allowed it, he’d have left right then to regroup, but as it was he’d been forced to stay.

He hardly bothered to acknowledge the girl Wren used as a buffer between them, knowing her personality would be too much, and her name would push him.

Wren he could only continue to watch, wondering how she’d pulled him back from the edge she’d placed him on.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

The funny thing about memories was that they had the tendency to sneak up on you at the oddest of times. Wren knew that well enough, and yet still she was caught off guard at the thoughts that assaulted her not two hours later.

What brought about these thoughts, layered with emotions long buried and actions years behind her, was a simple thing. That was the way it always happened, of course. The littlest action could have very unexpected effects.

For her, the upset of the tentative balance of friendly normality she’d managed was broken by none other than the same person who’d been getting into her head for days: Jasper.

That alone would’ve irked her, but what truly was upsetting was that all he’d done was adjust his sleeve.

That day, as with most, he’d chosen a long sleeved shirt that rode high on his wide palms, and generally that was acceptable considering the weather patterns of their chosen state. To most, the long sleeves wouldn’t have warranted a second glance. To most, the near constant adjusting of his sleeves wouldn’t have seemed so odd.

To her, the supposedly inconspicuous sleeves triggered the image of a girl far too young to be baring the weight of the scars crisscrossing her wrists. The girl whose memory seemed to linger no matter how hard she tried to erase her had worn long sleeves just like Jasper, and before Wren could help it, she found herself wondering if his hid the same shame that she remembered seeing on the face of a girl she’d once known.

She knew the second he caught her looking, because he was far more observant that she had given him credit for, and his gaze tended to have the fine hairs on her body raising in alarm.

Despite being caught in the act, though, Wren felt none of the previous shame or discomfort she should have. She met his strange eyes, noting the challenge in them. He was waiting her to ask what was probably to him, an unavoidable question.

Memories crept up in the corners of her mind, her own fingers drifted to her left wrist, phantom pains assaulting her being, and her lips parted. From the outside, she thought that they probably looked casual as they simply watched each other, if a little tense. Wren knew that this was anything but, however, because for one solemn moment, Wren saw something hard in Jasper shift, but it did little to change her actions.

Her emotions, pesky things that they where, threatened to rise up, but of course she pushed them down, and she said nothing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m aware that this isn’t like super great or anything, and could’ve done with more detail but idk. We’re still moving things along and I’m not. 100% sure I’ll be able to continue with this? If anything I want to warn you all that this will only be updated sporadically when I’m feeling like writing for it. That may be every few weeks, every few months, every few years, or not at all. Okay one thing I will say, though, is thank you all SO MUCH for your feedback. I keep getting follows which is really why this chapter came to be? And the comments I’ve gotten both on FanFiction and AO3 are amazing and I’m just. Wowed. I hope I can live up to your expectations! Feel free to comment, xoxo


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